More salad....Classic Italian with Creamy Basil and Romano dressing

Tonight I made the kids and Chris Italian sausages (organic, from the farmer's market of course!) with steamed broccoli for dinner. Mmmmmm.....those sausages smelled so goooooood. But alas, while staring at the four lovely, grease covered links I thought about my daily intake of veggies. Basically, it was non-existent, unless you count the red pepper hummus I had while lunching with the kids at Target. No chicken/fennel/greasy goodness for me tonight. Tonight I need salad.

Since the house was full of Italian yumminess, I decided on a classic Italian salad. I had all the greenery fixings, but lacked a substantial dressing. I sat for a moment and started dreaming about my favorite Italian salad - the house salad at Ledo Pizza. Ledo makes this yum, yum, yummy Romano Cheese and Herb salad dressing. Could I replicate it with what I had in the fridge. I was about to find out.

Here is what I came up with from the available fixings in my fridge and pantry. It isn't quite Ledo pizza dressing, but it was close and tasted pretty darned good.

Creamy Basil and Romano Dressing (makes about 1 1/4 cups)

1/2 C good quality mayonnaise

1/4 C buttermilk

1/4 C fresh basil leaves

1/4 C grated Romano cheese (parm would be good too)

1 t dried Italian seasoning blend

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/4 t seasoned salt blend (or salt and pepper)

Add all ingredients to a food processor and blitz until basil is finely minced.

Here's the salad all dressed. It includes romaine hearts, grape tomatoes, red onion and a few pieces of salami wrapped in low sodium provolone. Yum.

Lentil and Black Bean Salad

This recipe is similar to Penny's Brown Rice Salad in flavor, but features lentils instead of brown rice. Lentils are packed with fiber and protein, so this would be an excellent vegetarian main course.

Lentil and Black Bean Salad (makes 12 servings)

3 C cooked lentils
1 15-oz can of reduced sodium black beans, well rinsed
1 medium red onion, diced
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
1 large zucchini, diced
2 T dried parsley
1 C olive oil
juice of one lemon
2 T cider vinegar
1 T Dijon mustard
1 1/2 t ground cumin
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Mix first 6 ingredients in large bowl. In a jar with a tight fitting lid, add next 6 ingredients and shake well to combine. Pour over salad and toss lightly. Add salt and pepper to taste.

The Salad Days of Summer

Today I hosted Cooking Club. The idea behind cooking club is simple: get a few like-minded Moms together, plan a menu, meet at a rotating house and cook together. At the end of the morning, you have dinner all prepared and have you spent a lovely morning hanging out with the girls.

Usually the Club makes an entire meal: protein, starch, veggie and sometimes desert. As summer is now upon us, I wanted to switch things up a bit. Today we made a weeks worth of salads and sides.

The first two receipes are tried and true, old standbys for me. I love them both. I hope the Cooking Club ladies and everyone else enjoys them.

Penny's Brown Rice Salad
(Note: I always switch up the veggies in this salad, but keep the rice/bean/dressing ratio the same)

2 C cooked beans (black, kidney, pinto, etc.)
3 C cooked brown rice
4 green onions, sliced
2 stalks celery
1 small red onion, diced
1 small zucchini, diced
1/4 C canola oil
1/4 C lime juice
1 T white vinegar
1 t chili powder
1 t cumin
1 t sugar
1/2 t salt
1/4 t black pepper

Gently mix the rice, beans and veggies in a bowl. In a seperate bowl, add the remaining ingredients and mix to combine. Pour dressing over salad and toss.

Couscous Salad with Feta and Artichokes
(Pictured above with the addition of tomato, chick peas and crushed pita chips )

1 1/2 C dry couscous, prepared according to package directions
1 can artichoke hearts, rinsed, drained and chopped
6 oz. crumbled feta cheese
1/3 C chopped fresh herbs (basil, parsley, dill -- whatever you have on hand)
juice of one lemon
1/2 C olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Add couscous, artichokes, cheese and herbs to large bowl and toss to combine. In a seperate bowl, add lemon juice, olive oil and seasonings and mix. Combine salad and dressing and serve as is or with additions mentioned above (also excellent with chicken).

















Grilled Marinated Zucchini

1 1/3 C olive oil
1/3 C red wine vinegar
3 cloves garlic
3/4 t Italian seasoning blend
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 C Parmesean cheese
3 zucchini, washed and sliced thin

Add all ingredients, except zucchini, to bowl and mix well to combine. Add zucchini to bowl or plastic bag and pour dressing over. Marinate in refregerator for at least one hour. Heat grill or broiler to high. Grill or broil for 3 - 5 minutes per side or until browned and tender. Serve as is or topped with additional cheese.

In addition to these recipes, we also made:

Homemade Bleu Cheese Dressing
Homemade Caeser Dressing

An interesting twist on slaw

In an attempt to expand my salad green repertoire, I purchased a bag a pre-shredded green cabbage at Trader Joe's a few weeks ago. I figured since salad is all about the crunch for me (and since raw cabbage is so crunchy), that throwing a handful or two of cabbage into my salad mix would be a good way to get a nice dose of Vitamin C in my diet without trying (cabbage is LOADED with the stuff).

That experiment proved pretty successful except for the fact that my pre-shredded cabbage started turning brown after about 2 days in my fridge. What is a girl to do with an almost full bag of shredded cabbage? I could have made cole slaw, which I do love, but I just wasn't in the mood for it that afternoon. Instead, I decided to dive into the fridge, pull out whatever sounded good, and start making a salad. The result was so good that we have eaten it once a week for the last three weeks running. Tonight I served this with cheese toast made with sprouted grain bread and unsweetened iced tea. If sugar is a real issue for you, you can skip the raisins, but they were a nice addition. Plus, there is so much other good stuff going on in this salad that I didn't worry about it. Enjoy.

Fruit and Nut Bleu Cheese Slaw (makes 2 generous portions)

3 C shredded green cabbage or packaged cole slaw mix

scant 1/3 C raisins

1 large apple, chopped (unpeeled)

1/2 C bleu cheese dressing

2 T chopped walnuts or sunflower seeds

Add all ingredients except nuts to bowl and toss to combine. To serve, spoon onto serving dish and sprinkle with nut of choice.

Why do we buy pre-made salad dressing?

The longer I continue this clean eating experiment, the more mystified I am at our collective buying habits. This morning I made bleu cheese dressing and it took all of 3 minutes to whip up the batch. Why in the world did I ever buy the pre-made, highly processed, junk laden stuff before? There is absolutely no reason to buy the processed junk when it is so easy to make at home.

As you can see, my fridge currently contains 3 salad dressings, all homemade. The bleu cheese is in the large container at the rear. The other two are recipes already posted (buttermilk ranch and classic cobb dressing).



Bleu Cheese Dressing (makes approx 3 cups)

3/4 c mayonnaise
1/4 c milk (or half and half)
3/4 c sour cream
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 T white wine vinegar
1 T dried parsley
1/4 t black pepper
1/2 t salt
6 oz crumbled bleu cheese

Add all ingredients, except cheese, to a bowl and whisk to combine. Add bleu cheese and toss gently. Pour into storage container and refrigerate until ready to use. Keeps up to 2 weeks in refrigerator.

The perfect low GI summer salad - the classic Cobb

Today was cooking club and as I was the host, I got to choose the menu. We made the following:

1. Classic Cobb Salad
2. Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup
3. Good for You Zucchini Muffins (basically this recipe, but swap out 3/4 C of almond meal for the white flour)

Here is the Cobb Salad recipe that we made:

Classic Cobb Salad (serves 8)

1 head iceberg lettuce, washed and chopped
8 cups arugula, washed
2 small heads of romaine lettuce, washed and chopped
1 lb grape tomatoes
3/4 lb bacon, fried, drained and chopped
4 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
8 hard boiled eggs, chopped
4 small avocados, diced
2 cups crumbled blue cheese
2 cups (approx) Cobb Salad Dressing (see below)

Mix lettuces together. Add dressing, to taste, and toss to combine. Arrange in large salad bowl or plate.

Arrange remaining ingredients in strips on top of the greens and enjoy.

Cobb Salad Dressing (makes approx 3 cups)

1/2 C water
1/2 C red wine vinegar
1/2 T sugar
2 t freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 T + 1 t salt
1 1/2 t pepper
1 1/2 t Worcestershire sauce
1/2 t dry mustard
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 C olive oil
1 C canola oil.

Add all ingredients in large jar or other container and blend well. Mix before serving.

Decisions, decisions....

Tonight was salad night at our house. I had intended to try a recipe for Cafe Rio Creamy Tomatillo Dressing that I found online at a great blog called Kalyn's Kitchen. In order to make it, I needed to make a Buttermilk Ranch dressing first, as the Tomatillo dressing using it as a base. So, after making both dressings my kids informed me that they would not, under any circumstances, eat their chicken tenders with anything other than Honey Mustard. Of course, I was out of that so made yet another dressing for the table.

All of these were good, but the Tomatillo is especially nice. If you prefer, you can use a pre-made ranch dressing as the base (but homemade is much better for you.)

Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing (adapted from this recipe at Simply Recipes)

1 c buttermilk
1 c mayonnaise
1 t lemon juice
1/4 t paprika
1/4 t mustard powder
1/2 t salt
1/8 t black pepper
1 t dried parsley
1 t dried dill (or dill/lemon mix)
1 green onion, sliced
Add all ingredients to food processor or blender and process until smooth.
Makes about 2 cups. Keeps for a week, covered in the fridge.

Cafe Rio Creamy Tomatillo Dressing (adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen)

2 c prepared Ranch Dressing

1 small bunch cilantro, large stems removed (about 1/2 cup chopped cilantro)

2 large or 4 small tomatillos

1/2 t minced garlic

2 T lime juice

1 t green tobasco sauce

Add all ingredients to food processor or blender and process until smooth.

Makes about 2 1/2 cups. Keeps for a week, covered in the fridge.

Quick Honey Mustard Dressing (My kids eat this stuff by the boatload. They dip anything and everything into it and I bet they would eat it by the spoonful if I let them.)

2 c mayonnaise

3 T prepared mustard

3 T honey or agave nectar

Add all ingredients to a bowl and whisk to combine.

Makes about 2 cups. Keeps for one week, covered in the fridge.